these Druids having been converted from the Pagan Religion whereof they were the Priests became our first Monks being thereto much inclin'd by the severity of their former Discipline as the Therapeutae did for the same Reason become the first Anchorits in Egypt and so it was easie for them to inform the Monasteries of what they knew so well And this Hint is confirm'd by a very clear passage in Leslies Preface to his History who being a Bishop himself should be believ'd by another of the same Character in a probable matter of Fact Nor can there be a clearer Confirmation of our having had the Druids amongst us than that in several places of the Irish Version of the New Testament the wise Men or Priests are translated Druids and so where the English Translation saith That the Wise Men from the East came to worship our Saviour Our Irish Translation has the Druids c. Our Predecessors also being descended from the Spanish Gallicks or Galicians as is acknowledg'd by Historians and they having had the use of Letters and of Grammar long before this time as Strabo confesses it cannot be imagined but that we as a Colony of them would have likewise a part of their Art and Learning Our Predecessors also had their Sanachies and Bards The first whereof were the Historians and the latter the Poets of their Traditions as Luddus himself acknowledges and by either of these means the Memory of our Kings and their Actions might have been preserv'd until the 5th Century at which time we got Monasteries in which as I shall hereafter prove were written and preserv'd the Annals of our Nation And since nothing but great Improbabilities and fundamental Inconsistencies should be allow'd to refute a History already receiv'd I shall offer these Considerations for clearing that this way of preserving the Memory of our Kings is as probable a mean as any can be in History 1. It is probable that our Nation as all the rest of Mankind who are warlike and in constant action would be desirous to preserve the memory of those Actions for which they had hazarded their Lives and by which they design'd to preserve that Fame which they preferr'd to Life it self And that the Kings likewise whose Authority and Right was much reverenc'd for its Antiquity would be as careful to preserve those Marks of their ancient Dominion 2. We do not in this serious Debate pretend to such ancient Originations and Descents as might through Vanity tempt Men to lie as those do who endeavour to derive themselves from the Trojans All that we pretend to in this Debate being only that we are a Colony who probably came first from Greece to Spain but settled certainly in Ireland for some time and that we came from them after the time in which Cambden and Vsher acknowledge that the Nation of the Scots whose Name we only now bear were long settled there Would not our Accusers have us trust the British Antiquities for 2500 years and the Irish for a longer time than our own without any written History or Manuscript now extant before Gilda's time And tho Lycurgus would not suffer his Laws to be written yet they were preserv'd in the Memories of Men for more than 600 Years as Plutarch observes and we and other Nations have preserv'd some Laws for much longer time without the help of writing And the only Points here controverted being the first Settlement of our Nation and that we continue Subjects to the same race of Kings these are matters so remarkable that most Nations know when such Changes happened to one another As for instance tho there were no History yet extant we should easily have known that the Saxons Danes and Normans conquer'd the Britons and alter'd the Race of their Kings That Ireland had many little Monarchs till they were swallow'd up by Henry the 2d of England And that Edward Bruce Brother to our glorious King Robert the first was chosen King of Ireland with universal Consent there and might have continued in that Government if from too great a love to Fame and to gain a Victory without his Brother he had not lost it and himself And though all these controverted Points fell out in a time after the use of Letters was known to most Nations and particularly to the Druids and Romans the one whereof were our Priests and the other our Neighbours very long yet there remains not the least vestige of a doubt that our Scepter was ever sway'd by any other Race 3. Though we had wanted the use of Letters as most probably we did not Yet the Tradition controverted is at most of about 800 years For after that time it shall be proved that we had Records and Annals And the things said of our Kings during that time are so few and so remarkable that Men might have taught the same to their Children in a weeks time And Men lived so long at that time that ten or twelve Men might have transmitted the Tradition to one another As also since private Families do preserve to this day their Tradition for as long time as this it was much more easy for a Nation and their Kings to preserve theirs Nor can I tell why my Lord St. Asaph in his Preface can controvert our Tradition though we could not produce Writers who lived in those Times wherein these Actions are said to be done since he thinks it reasonable to judge that there was the same Government here in Britain though for want of Ancient Writings there could be produced no plain Instances of it And if this be allowed to Episcopacy in these times why should he not have allow'd the same favour to his Monarch's Predecessors in the same and more ancient Ages 4. It was much easier for us to preserve our Traditions than for the English we being all descended from the same Race and being still the same People living under the uninterrupted succession of the same Royal-Line Whereas they were oblig'd to suppress the Traditions and Memorials of the People whom they had conquer'd 5. As no Man is presum'd to lie or cheat without some great Temptation so the most glorious things that are said of us are true beyond debate As our having defended the Ground in which we setled against all opposition to this very day Our having put the first stop to the Roman Greatness our having beat the far more numerous Britans though defended by strong Walls and stronger Romans All which cannot be deny'd to have been done by us and are equally noble whether we were setled here or not when we did them After those controverted Times it cannot be deny'd that we carried our Conquests further into Britain than formerly That we fought long with success against the Saxons and Picts and did at last extirpate the latter And when we were alone we continued and extended our former Conquests against the Danes and Normans which proves also that in the Wars which
heard of it nor with one even of these few who had valu'd it and so this Author may be said rather to have suggested a new Argument than to have answered an old One For they urge now nothing to us save places of Scripture resolving to have their Presbytery Iuris Divini knowing that nothing less can secure them in opposing the Laws of the Kingdom And what can the Presbyterians think of their other Arguments which they value much Since this which they valu'd so little is thought of such force by a learned Bishop as to deserve a whole Book the cutting off of 44 Kings and the offending a Nation of Friends It is also very remarkable that the learn'd Doctor Hammond a great Champion of Episcopacy owns the Antiquity of our Nation and answers fully that Argument without overturning the truth of our History or wronging the Antiquity of our Royal-Line whereas Baxter the Presbyterian urges this Citation and yet agrees with this Author in opposing the Antiquity of our History approving what is said by Cambden and Vsher and in a Letter to the Duke of Lauderdale asserting the lateness of our settlement here Which shews that there is no necessity lying upon such as own Episcopacy to wrong the Antiquity of our Kings and Nation But how the necessity of a private corner of a remote Country in Ecclesiâ constituendâ could wrong the general practice of the Church is as little to be understood as it is undenyable that many thousands in Iapan and China were converted by Presbyters before Bishops were sent thither And since it cannot be deny'd but that those who ordain'd our Presbyters were Bishops it necessarily follows that Episcopacy was settl'd in the Christian Church before we had Presbyters or Culdees or else if these who ordain'd our Presbyters were not Bishops the practice of that Church whereby our Presbyters were ordain'd should have been impugn'd and not the Authority of our Histories and the Antiquity of our Royal-Line overturn'd And though this Reverend and Learn'd Author could prove that we were not setled here before the Year 503 yet that could not answer the Argument for the Culdees might have been settled before that time in this Country where we now live though amongst the Picts for it cannot be deny'd but the Picts were setled in this Country before that time And when our Historians say that the Abbots of Icolm-kill had Jurisdiction over all the Bishops of the Province that is to be understood as Beda observes more inusitato and my Lord St. Asaph himself well remarks these words and gives a full and clear vindication of the passages of Beda in the 173 and following Pages and might have rested therein and needed not to have been driven to seek a new Answer in overturning the Antiquity of our Nation Many examples can be given of Jurisdiction of Presbyters and even of Deacons over Bishops in the Canon Law and History So that this instance from our Historians makes nothing against Episcopacy And latter Historians meeting with these ambiguous words in our Annals De signatus Electus Ordinatus were by a mistake induc'd to appropriate these words to the formal Ceremony of Ordination and Imposition of Hands And I find by the Bishop's Concession that the Abbess Hilda did elect and send forth such of her Monks as she thought fit to be ordain'd which is all that our Guldees and ancient Monks did Thus a King may be said to make one a Bishop or a Mother to have made one of her Sons a Church-man which answer the learned Nicol a zealous friend to Episcopacy thought sufficient to elide Blondel's Arguments from our Historians without denying the Antiquity of our Nation or troubling himself with our Culdees And if Beda had heard that the Presbyters did ordain Bishops he had remark'd it as a most unusal thing having marked that the Abbots had jurisdiction over Bishops they being but Presbyters such an Ordination being much more extraordinary than such a Jurisdiction And might not my Lord St. Asaph as well have inveigh'd against Gildas and the British Historians because he says that Church-men were ordain'd by the consent of the Bishops and the rest of the Presbyters from which Presbyterians and particularly the same Blondel infers a parity betwixt Bishops and Presbyters And from which it appears that dangerous Consequences should not be drawn from the dubious and heedless expressions of old Authors living in rude Times and Places and from all which we might have been secure that my Lord St. Asaph would have concur'd with the wise answer which Spotswood Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews with whom the learn'd Hammond agrees gave to that silly Argument without affronting him as a betrayer of the Episcopal Cause and caressing our Fanaticks by that unwarrantable and dangerous assertion that in consequence thereof they might reasonably conclude that when they covenanted against Episcopacy they had only us'd their own right and thrown out that which was a confess'd innovation in order to the restoring of that which was their primitive Government For it does not follow that because our Church in its infancy and necessity was without Bishops for some Years that therefore it was reasonable for Subjects to enter into a Solemn League and Covenant without and against the consent of their Monarch and to extirpate Episcopacy settled then by Law and by an old prescription of 1200 Years at least 3. Precedency being one of the Jewels of the Crown and one of the chief Glories of Princes and all who treat on that Subject confessing that the King of Great-Britain as King of Scotland is the most ancient Monarch in Europe the Line of other Kingdoms having been often interrupted whereas ours never was it seems a great injury to our Kings to have their Line shortened so as thereby to postpone them to many others and if this Author's Arguments prove any thing they must prove that our Kings cannot instruct their Antiquity till Malcolm the 3d's Time and so our Kings will be amongst the last of all Crowned-Heads Nor is it one of the least Arguments which prevail with us to hazard all for our Royal-Line that we have been so long Subjects to it and happy under it and therefore whoever shortens it lessens though without design the influence of our Kings and endangers the Succession And since Luddus owns that he durst not deny the British Descent from Brutus lest he might thereby wrong the Majesty of the English Nation I admire that any of the Subjects of Great Britain did not think it a degree of Lese-Majesty to injure and shorten the Royal-Line of their Kings 4. If this injury had been done to Kings or to a Nation when they were Enemies to Episcopacy as the Obligation was so the fault had been less But to inveigh against our Royal-Line after King Iames had made the settlement of Episcopacy his business King Charles had died for it and our late Soveraign of
we had against the Romans in conjunction with the Picts the Victories we then got are chiefly to be ascrib'd to us And to crown all we have generously contributed all that was in our power to support that Ancient and Royal Family so unparallell'd for its antiquity by which we were animated and instructed to do all those great Actions till they are now become the Monarchs of the whole Isle having by a happier way extinguished those Wars and Animosities and may he be unhappy who revives them For clearing how this Tradition might have been and was preserv'd Our History tells us of a probable way among many others which was That at the Coronation of our Kings one appeared and recited his whole Genealogy I shall trouble my Reader only with a proof of this Custom which is such as confirms also the Genealogy of King Alexander the 3d in the year 1249 prior to Fordon's time or to the view of any such Debate and is related by Fordon and Major in the Life of that King and being so memorable a Fact and so near Fordon's own time his Relation cannot but be credited His words are That the King being plac'd in the Marble-Chair the Crown upon his Head and the Scepter in his Hand and the Nobility being set below Him a Venerable old High-landed Gentleman stept out and bowing the Knee express'd himself to the King in the High-land Language thus God bless you King Alexander Son of Alexander Son of William c. And so carried up the Genealogy to Fergus the First Which Custom was most solemnly us'd at the Coronation of King Charles the Martyr at which time their Pictures were expos'd and noblest Actions recited As also the reciting of their Genealogy was usual at the Burial of ours Kings a written Proof of which Tradition is to be seen in a Manuscript of Baldredus Abbas Rynalis for that which is the Abbacy of Melros was so called before King David's time who designs them so in the Foundations of the Lands of Melros which he gives to them and is related verbatim by Fordon consisting of eighteen Chapters mentioning the memorable Actions of King David upon whom the Lamentation is made who died 1151 and running up the Genealogy of the said St. David to Fergus the First dedicated to Henry Prince of England Grand Nephew to St. David who came to the Crown of England Anno 1154 under the name of Henry the Second In both which at least Fordon is to be believ'd having sufficient Vouchers This also being ordinary in our High-land Families to this very day not only at Burials but Baptisms and Marriages and in which Families Men continue still to be design'd from their Fathers Grandfathers and very many Generations upwards as is a sufficient Historical Proof of Tradition tho we had no other Warrant for those few Ages Before I come to clear that we had Manuscripts and Records it is fit to consider that is very probable that as the History of most Nations was preserv'd by their Priests and Church-men so ours would be very ready to oblige the Kings under whom and the People among whom they liv'd by writing their Annals And therefore we may reasonably conclude that since we were very early Christians we had therefore ancient Histories written by our Church-men besides those which we may pretend to have been transmitted to them by the Druids And the Bishop himself acknowledges that the Monastery of Hy call'd by us Icolm-kill that is Hy the Cell of Columba was founded about the year 560 and it is undeniable that 48 of our old Kings were buried and our Records were kept there since its Foundation until the Reign of Malcolm Canmore and it is also certain that our Annals were written in our Monasteries such as Scoon Pasley Pluscardin and Lindesfern govern'd by three Scotish-Bishops Aidan Finan and Colman and Abercorn mention'd by Beda and Melross the Chronicle whereof begins where Beda ends as their History now printed shews though certainly that English Manuscript is very unfaithful for most of the things relating to our Nation are omitted as particularly about the beginning in the year 844. Our Manuscript observes which the English has not That Alpin King of the Scots died to whom succeeded his Son Kenneth who beat the Picts and was declared first King of all Scotland to the Water of Tine and after it expresses in his Epitaph Primus in Albania fertur Regnasse Kenedhus Filius Alpini praelia multa gerens And it observes that he was called the first King of Albany not because he was the first who made the Scotish Laws but because he was the first King of all Scotland And each of our Monasteries had two Books the one call'd their Register or Chartulary containing the Records relating to their private securities and another call'd their Black-book containing an account of the memorable things which occur'd in every Year And as it is strongly presumable that our Historians would have compil'd our Histories from those So this being a matter of Fact is probable by Witnesses and I thus prove it in such a way and manner as is sufficient to maintain any History Verimundns a Spaniard Arch-deacon of St. Andrews in Anno 1076 as is remarked by Chambers of Ormond declares in the Epistle to his Book of the Historians of Scotland dedicated to King Malcolm call'd Can-more That albeit there are many things in the said Histories which may seem to the Readers to be a little difficult to be believed because they are not totally confirmed by Foreign Historians Yet after have they heard how the Scots were setled in the North Part of the Isle of Albion separated by the Sea from the firm Land and so seldom troubled by Strangers to whom they give no occasions to write their Actions and also that they have not been less happy in having almost always among them the Druids Religious People and diligent Chroniclers before the Reception of the Christian Faith and continually since Monks faithful Historians in the Isles of Man and Icomkill where they kept securely their Monuments and Antiquities without giving a sight or Copy of them to strangers they will cease to wonder This Chambers was a Learned Man and a Lord of Session who wrote anno 1572 and in his Preface says That he had those principal Authors Verimund a Spaniard Turgot Bishop of St. Andrews John Swenton John Campbel and Bishop Elphinstoun c. and many great Histories of the Abbacies of Scoon called the Black-book and of other like Chronicles of Abbacies as that of Inch-colm and Icolmkill the most part whereof he took pains to consider as much as was possible for him He cites Verimund for an account of the Scots and Picts and after he also cites him for the Miracle of St. Andrews in Hungus's time and he gives an account of the tenor of the League betwixt Charles the Great and Achaius and asserts that
Construction And whereas the Bishop pretends that the words construed according to Buchannan would not have run so strong in the Comparison for the strength of the Comparison lies saith he in that Julius Caesar ' s Victory was not so great as that of Constantius because Caesar overcame a Nation yet rude and unskilful of War and only Britains a Nation us'd to no other Enemies but Picts and Irish Whereas Constantius overcame Carausius who had got a Roman Legion on his side c. But by his Lordship's favour the Comparison runs strong enough thus according to Buchannan's Construction Caesar overcame the Britains when they were yet a rude Nation us'd only to fight against the Picts and Irish who liv'd upon the Land or Isle of Britain but Constantius overcame them after they had been long train'd up in War And certainly a Nation is a far more formidable Enemy after their being long train'd up in War than when yet rude and unexperienc'd tho they had had the accession of a Roman Legion which could signify nothing against a whole Roman Army Nor does it follow that the words must be ill construed if so the Comparison would be stronger for it is sufficient to sustain the Construction that in the Comparison Constantius was to be preferr'd in the way I have mention'd 4. If there were any doubtfulness in these words as there is none yet they ought to be interpreted so as to consist with other Authors and Histories and especially with Beda for in our sence they confirm his Chronological Account of our being in this Isle before Iulius Caesar's time And the Bishop must still remember that he cannot overturn our receiv'd Histories except he produce Arguments which infallibly conclude against them It being a Rule in Law that Verba semper sunt interpretanda potius ut scriptura vel actus subsistat quam ut destruatur This shews also that in Constantius's time which was about the Year 300 the Britains were assueti us'd to fight with the Scots and Picts and this use must imply a long time And so it 's very probable that we had frequent Wars with the Britains long before this time and consequently the Bishop errs asserting We were not in Britain even by way of incursion till the year 300. If it be objected that in the Phrase Soli Britanni Britanni is a Substantive Britannici being still the Adjective and therefore these words must be construed to be the Nominative Case as the Bp of St. Asaph alledgeth I prove the contrary by Lucretius Nam quid Britannum Coelum differre putamus c. Claudianus de quarto consulatu Honorii Terribilis Mauro debellatorque Britanni Littoris A further Confirmation of this arises from the same Eumenius in this same Panegyrick where speaking of Constantius's Victory over this Island he saith Neque enim ille tot tantisque rebus gestis non dico Caledonum aliorumque Pictorum silvas paludes sed nec Hiberniam proximam nec Thulen ultimam nec ipsae si quae sunt fortunatarum Insulas dignabitur acquirere And tho Vsher foreseeing the force of this Argument endeavours to elude it by contending that by the Caledonii are here meant the Picts because the words aliorumque Pictorum had else been impertinent Yet to make the Scots not to be Caledonians in ancient Authors were too great a Task even for Vsher that being contrary to the universally receiv'd opinion of all the Learned some of which I have cited in the Margin but for a further Proof I shall here cite a Roman that liv'd very near Eumenius's time and who almost speaks in the same words with him Latinus Pacatius Drepanius who in his Panegyrick to Theodosius the elder who liv'd Anno 367 complements him upon having reduc'd the Scots to their Marishes shewing that the Sylvae and Paludes Caledonum were the Scotorum Sylvae though Strangers in those ancient times could little distinguish Picts from Scots And from which I further evince that the Scots before the year 400 dwelt in in Scotland as their own Country else it had been impertinent and untrue to say that the Scots were reduced to their own Marishes Having thus shown that the Scots were Caledonians It clearly follows that all the ancient Authors who write of the Caledonii prove the Antiquity of the Scots and therefore Valerius Flaccus proves our Antiquity who writing to Domitian in praise of his Father Vespasian who was known to have made War with us about the year 70 after Christ says Caledonius postquam tua Carbasa vexit Oceanus Phrygios prius indignatus Iulos And Martial who liv'd also in Domitian's time says Quinte Caledonios Ovide visure Britannos Et viridem Tethyn Oceanumque Patrem Next to these I cite Tacitus who in the Life of Agricola brings in that famous Galgacus who fought with the Romans near to the Grampian Hills And that he was a Scotish King or Leader is confirm'd from Lipsius who calls him Galgacus Scotus This is also confirm'd by the exact and noble French Manuscript foresaid which says that Dardan was chosen because Galdus was not of Age Alluding to our old Law appointing that the immediate Heir of the Crown being by his Infancy unable to govern the Government should in that case be devolved upon the next who was able to govern which Law was so ancient that it is said to be enacted immediately upon the Death of Fergus the First And by Bergier afterwards the King's Advocate of France who in his learn'd History of the High-ways of Rome calls him Prince of the Caledonians or the Scots And to what better Judges can we appeal in a matter concerning Roman Antiquities and the sense of a Roman Author than to those two who are the most famous of all the Roman Antiquaries the one having written a Book concerning the Roman Greatness and the other concerning the Magnificence of the Romans in their High-ways Nor could he be an Irish King for what had an Irish King to do with an Army in the midst of Scotland and against the Romans with whom no Irish King ever fought And that he was no Britain is clear from the Speech he made to his Souldiers telling them that they had never been conquer'd servitutis expertes nullae ultra terrae Nor can any thing agree better with our being still call'd one of the two unconquer'd Nations by Gildas Beda and others This is yet further clear'd by another Passage in this same Life of Agricola wherein Tacitus says The third Year of the War discovered new Nations which Agricola conquer'd even to the River Tay. And after this he adds Agricola having beat Galgacus near to the Grampian Hills brought back the Roman Army to the Borders of the Horesti and having received Hostages from them he ordered the Commander of the Roman Fleet to sail about the Isle From which I deduce first that Galgacus was no Britan For
not long amongst them but that we came from thence very early 2. By all the tract of the Roman Histories as well as by Beda's Gildas's and ours it is clear that the Scots and Picts fought joyntly against the Romans in this Country which we now possess That the Walls built by Adrian and Severus were built here to defend them against them That Complaints were made to the Romans by the Britons of them and that Succours were crav'd against them That the Saxons were call'd in to defend the Britons from the Scotish and Pictish Incursions That they were call'd jointly unconquer'd Nations All which points prove that they were equal in every thing and why not then in their being equally settl'd here And therefore except it were clearly prov'd that the Scots were not settl'd and fix'd here as the Picts were and that there were Authors produc'd who living in these Times declar'd that in the Year 503 the Scots were first call'd to defend the Picts as the Saxons are clearly prov'd to have been call'd in against the Scots and Picts in the Year 449 very near to the Year 503 which is said by the Bishop to be our Entry It must be necessarily concluded that the Scots were here at the time wherein all these things are told of them joyntly with the Picts The third Argument shall be that it 's undeniable that the Scots and Picts were such constant and formidable Enemies that the Romans and Britans who then possest the Southern part of this Isle were forc'd to build two Fences against them The first betwixt Tyne and Solloway which was call'd Adrian's Wall And the second by Severus who having enlarg'd the Roman Conquest built a second betwixt Forth and Clyde and called it by his own name How then can it be imagin'd that the Scots did not live on the other side of that Wall for if they had liv'd in Ireland the Wall had not been necessary or useful against them This common sense would declare to a Stranger upon first reading the Story and much more ought it to be believ'd if we consider that if the Scots came from Ireland in Corroughs as the Bishop of St. Asaph alledges from Gildas then they might have landed upon the Britons side of the Wall nay and which is more they could not conveniently have landed on the other side except they had gone too far about and cross'd a very broad and dangerous Sea 4. Tho People come once or twice from a Foreign Nation by Sea to rob and pillage yet it is against sense to think that for many hundreds of Years the Irish would have come over to make War against such powerful Enemies and return once a Year And it appers clearly that this was a constant War from before Iulius Caesar's Time for above 600 Years and in those Ages it is known that there were not very convenient means fall'n upon for transporting Men much lesse Armies they having only Corroughs as the Bishop of St. Asaph himself acknowledges And these are a miserable little kind of shapeless Boats made of Leather streatch upon Timber as we find them and the Irish Sea describ'd by Solinus who liv'd near those Times and writes that Mare quod Iuvernam Britanniam interfluit undosum inquietum toto in anno nisi aestivis pauculis diebus est navigabile navigant autem viminiis alviis quos circumdant ambitu tergorum bubulorum And how these could transport an Army every Year to fight against such powerful Enemies as the Romans and Britons And how they could carry back in them the great Booty worthy to be fought for especially over such broken Seas that are yet terrible in the best Season to the best of our Boats and the stoutest of Seamen is left to be considered by Men judicious or disinterested in any measure Especially seeing they behov'd to return in the Winter-time for it 's presum'd they fought all Summer and even then they had not the chusing of their own fair Weather but had just reason to be afraid that they would be chas'd away as Robbers usually are and as the Bishop of St. Asaph asserts they often-times were But as all this is absurd and incredible according to the Bishop of St. Asaph's Hypothesis so it is most consistent with ours in which we assert that the Scots setled on the other side of Clyde from which they might come every Year which agrees also well with Beda's saying That the Scots setled ad partem septentrionalem sinus Acluith or Dumbriton a narrow Sea and call'd one part of the Mare Scoticum by the English Authors and particularly by Holinshed and Polidore as by our Major and was so design'd in the forms of holding Circuits as is clear by the 4 Chap. of the Laws of King Malcom 2. and by 5th Act P. 3. I. 2d And since in the said Laws of Malcom 2. who reign'd Anno 1004. The Frith of Forth is call'd Mare Scotiae the Sea of Scotland and that is mention'd as a Law in old observance it must be concluded that this Country where we live was call'd Scotland long before the Year 1000 as Bishop Vsher asserts For since Tacitus and Beda say That we were inclos'd by that Sea and the Wall as in an Isle it seems that this was call'd the Sea of Scotland then it being our March at that time Nor are these Friths improperly call'd Seas being 40 miles broad in some places And this also agrees with our being transmarini or on the other side of the Sea which are the words us'd in the said Statute but not out of the Isle and it is strange that the Visigoths should have setled in France and Spain the Ostrogoths in Italy shortly after they had made their inroads and yet we should have return'd yearly for above 600 Years notwithstanding of the former difficulty 4ly The Scots coming over to this Isle could not but know that the southern Parts of it were very rich and the People there very cowardly even to admiration as the Bishop of St. Asaph himself relates from all their Historians and there was place enough for a Colony of them in this Isle or else how could they have planted themselves after when the Picts became more numerous and both the Scots and the Picts had good reason to expect every Year new additions of Land and it is probable that our Ancestors being a Colony of a more southern Nation strangers in Ireland and but lately setled there left their confinement in the Irish Isle as soon as they could to inlarge their Victories and Possessions in this larger one which afforded greater Glory How then can it be imagin'd that they would not have setled a Colony here which was far less dangerous and more noble and advantageous than to be constantly robbing for small Booty to the danger of their Lives But that they fought for Land and not for Booty is very clear not only from
the practice of others but from Sabellicus gliscere indies id malum augebatur duarum gentium audaciâ apparebatque brevi totam insulam alienatam iri nisi ejusmodi conatibus maturé iretur obviam 5. How it is imaginable that the Picts finding themselves in so great danger from the Romans and Britons the one very considerable for their Valour and the other for their great Numbers would not have intreated the Scots to stay constantly with them for tho they had been equal to their Enemies when the Scots and they were together yet they could not be but much more inferiour to them when the Scots left them once every Year 6. If the Irish had constantly sent in Auxiliaries to assist against the Romans it is not to be believ'd but the Romans would have resentted this Injury against the Kingdom of Ireland which they never did except once when the Irish gave the Scots Supplies endeavouring to re-establish themselves after the expulsion of Eugenius And if this War had been carried on by the Kingdom of Ireland and not by the Scots in Scotland we had certainly heard that the Kings of Ireland had been mention'd both in the Roman English and our Histories for it is not to be imagin'd that so long and so great Wars could have been carried on by the Subjects without the consent of the King and Kingdom 7. If they never had been call'd in by the Picts to stay as a Colony till the Saxons had beat the Britons who had lately call'd them in to their Assistance How is it imaginable to think that the Picts would have call'd them in as Auxiliaries at that time having so lately seen how dangerous Auxiliaries might prove especially considering that the Scots had been us'd many hundred Years to robbing as the Bishop of St. Asaph would have us believe and that they were part of a numerous near Nation from whom they might expect suddenly great Supply or that they would have not only run this risque but have divided with them their little Country and yet not have employ'd their Assistance for the Ends for which they call'd them in For the Bishop tells us that the Scots did nothing for 100 Years after they were call'd in 8. It cannot be deny'd but that about the Year 792 there was a League entred into betwixt Charles the Great call'd Charle-Maigne King of France and Emperor of the West and Achaius King of Scotland call'd by all the French Historians the Famous Alliance In which the King of Scotland did send over 4000 Men to the assistance of Charles the Great And this is testified by Aeginardus who wrote the History of those Times and was Secretary to Charles the Great and who is cited by Vsher at which time the King of Scotland sent over very many famous learn'd Men who founded the incomparable University of Paris All which is clear by Favin in his Theatre of Honour and Paulus Aemilius in that King's Life From which I raise two Arguments 1. How can it be imagin'd that if the Scots had not setled in a Colony till the 503 that their King could have been so famous that in about 280 Years time this small Colony which the Bishop of St. Asaph represents to have been but pilfering barbarous Robbers would have become so famous that Charles the Great then Emperor of all the Western World would have entred into a League with them especially since they had not for 100 Years after their settlement done any memorable Action as the Bishop of St. Asaph alledges 2. If our Kings and Nation had only then Dalrieda or the Kingdom of Argile as the Bishop contends how could this Prince of Argile which is after all improvement but an Earldom have been worthy not only of the Alliance of the great Emperor of the West but to be able to send 4000 Men especially having such dangerous Enemies at Home and being himself but a Stranger newly entred into a Foreign Island and living in a small part of the Isle with the Picts the more powerful and ancient possessors And that there were 4000 Men sent by virtue of that League is clear not only from Verimundus out of whose 2d Book Chambers cites the whole League but by Sansovin an Italian who writes the History of the Douglassii or Scoti whom he derives from William Douglas who was Lieutenant at that Time to Prince William Brother to Achaius For which Sansovin cites another viz. Vmberto Locato more ancient than himself And this is so far acknowledg'd by the French Kings that upon it we got very great Privileges in France and all the Heraulds in Europe acknowledg that the double Tressure was the Badg of that Alliance 9. How can it be conceiv'd that the Scots could in so short a time after their Settlement have been able without any help to extirpate the Picts who must be presum'd to have been very strong having been so long setled in this Isle and having possest in effect all that we have now benorth Forth except the Shire of Argyle if we believe the Bishop of St. Asaph Our Tradition is fortified and the former Authorities cited by us are clear'd from the receiv'd Laws of our Nation for first all our Histories bear That after King Fergus ' s death the Nobility finding his Son too young and the Wars in which they were engaged very dangerous they declared that the Vncle should govern Which Custom continu'd till it occasion'd many bloody Civil Wars betwixt the Uncles and Nephews and therefore was justly abrogated by a Parliament holden by Kenneth the Third which Kenneth the Third reign'd Anno 970. And it were very ridiculous to think that since these Matters of Fact are true viz. That there were bloody Civil Wars betwixt the Uncles and the Nephews and that all this hath been much debated in posterior Parliaments betwixt such as were for the Crown and such as were for popular Elections without ever controverting the Truth of the Matter of Fact and long before we could have any apprehension of such a debate as this and so that all this was a meer fiction calculated for maintaining an Antiquity which was never controverted It can as little be deny'd that there were Laws relating to the merchetae mulierum since many of our old Charters relate to them and discharges of them are incorporated in our Charters and which Styles are a part of our old and Traditional Law These merchetae mulierum were thereafter abrogated by King Malcom Canmor's Laws many hundred Years before the starting of this Debate And that there were such Laws is also acknowledged not only by Baker and others within the Isle but even by Solinus and Ierome c. And that these Laws were made by Evenus the Third who liv'd twelve Years before Christ is a part of the same Tradition and so cannot but be believ'd since Laws are one of the probablest
Means imaginable for preserving Tradition By the Laws likewise of Malcom the 2d who reign'd in the Year 1004. The Frith of Forth is call'd Mare Scotiae or the Sea of Scotland which demonstrates that before the Year 1000 our Country was call'd Scotia or Scotland and confirms and clears all that is said out of Beda and as this designation of the Scotish Sea is look'd upon there as a thing very old and acknowledg'd so it is continu'd in our Laws for many Ages as is evident by K. I. 2d his Laws above-cited I had resolved not to mention the Bishop's Objections against our early Conversion But I find it so clear that we were converted to the Christian Faith before the Year 503 that there results this concluding Argument from it to prove that we were setled before that time For if we were a Christian Nation converted here before that time it follows necessarily that we were a Nation setled here before that Time Since a Nation is said no where to be converted but where it is setled albeit some Persons of that Nation may be said to be converted abroad And that this part of the Isle which we now inhabit and that people from which we are descended were Christians before that time seems to me very evident from the former testimony of Tertullian who wrote in the end of the second Century to which I refer my Reader And tho Tertullian liv'd a little before King Donald yet the Answer is apparent viz. that the Nations were ordinarily converted before the Kings or Magistrates And it 's indeed very probable that the Christians who were persecuted in the Southern Nations would flee from their Persecutors the Roman Emperours And where could they seek refuge so reasonably as in that Country and amongst that People which had never submitted to the Roman Empire And it being acknowledg'd by the learn'd Vsher and my Lord St. Asaph that Britain was converted in the first Century it is very reasonable to think that the Christians who had fled to this Isle from the persecution of the Romans would have very probably shelter'd themselves here where the Romans had no power for though it be not prov'd that the Roman Persecution reach'd to Britain so early yet certainly they who fled so far from the Persecution would not think themselves very secure within the Dominions of the Persecutors and would have secured themselves by a few more Miles from so dreaded a danger As also it seems very improbable that since the Christian Religion spread from Ierusalem to Britain in less than 100 Years that it would have taken above 300 Years more to reach so few Miles as are betwixt the British part of the Isle and Scotland It is also presumable that the Druids having been so prepared to receive Christianity by their excellent Principles of Philosophy and their severity of Life formerly mentioned which did not contradict but illuminate the Christian Doctrine they would have both been easie to be converted themselves and ready to have converted their former Disciples and the People who admir'd them I might here cite many Authors but I fix upon Beda who asserts positively That Palladius was sent in the 8th Year of Theodosius junior that is to say in the 431 ad Scotos in Christum credentes by Pope Caelestine as their first Bishop And that Beda wrote of us as the Scots is formerly prov'd and this Mission of Palladius falling in the Tract and Series of the Actions ascrib'd by Beda to us only it is inconsistent with common Reason that the things before and after and the things related in the very Chapter should be only applicable to us and yet only this should not albeit our own and Foreign Histories apply the same to us As to Foreign Histories I shall only cite Baronius who because he made Ecclesiastick History more his business than my Lord St. Asaph and was more disinterested is therefore more to be believ'd as to this point This great Antiquary tells That the Scots who had first receiv'd the Christian Faith from Pope Victor and their first Bishop from Pope Caelestine were become the chief of all Christians from being amongst the most barbarous of all Nations having formerly said That all consent that Palladius was their first Bishop and for which he cites Prosper as he does Tertullian Ierome Sedulius and others for our being Christians under Pope Victor saying That they are not to be refuted who assert our conversion under Pope Victor but is most positive as to Palladius And whereas it is pretended that Prosper's words are not applicable to us since he says that Palladius made the barbarous Island Christian and our Scotland is not an Island To this it is answer'd That our part of Britain was by Tacitus and Beda said to be reduc'd into an Island by the Roman Wall from Sea to Sea and Beda in other places of his History calls us therefore Islanders Baronius also applies this to us and so this gloss is to be preferr'd to that unwarrantable gloss or reading cited by the Bishop of St. Asaph from the copy of a Manuscript of Nenius Missus est Palladius Episcopus primitus à Caelestino ad Scotos in Christum convertendos for that not only differs from Beda the far more learn'd ancient and credible Author But it is improbable to say that a Bishop was sent to those which were to be converted seeing Conversion useth to be by Presbyters and Missionars and when the Church is gather'd the Bishop is sent and this gloss contradicts not only common sense but Ado Viennen and Marian who both use Beda's own words Ad Scotos in Christum credentes and what is said of the conversion of the Scots and Picts by St. Ninian Palladius and Columba to make our conversion to be later than Tertullian made it viz. in the 2d Century must be interpreted of our fuller and sounder conversion from Paganism and Pelagianism and of our being conform'd to the Romish Church and Rites which the Authors of those Times considered as the only true conversion But to make this our first conversion were to contradict Tertullian Ierome the learn'd Baronius as well as all our Histores And the Magdeburgian Centuriators do positively agree with Baronius and our History in this our Antiquity and so having for us the greatest Ecclesiastick Antiquaries both Protestant and Papist we need not condescend upon particular Authors these being the Standards of Ecclesiastick History to the Professors of both Religions and it is strange after all this that a Church-man should so positively contradict what the Antiquaries of both Churches have so positively asserted tho if there had been any thing wherein they could have contradicted one another they would certainly have differ'd That Donald then was our first Christian King in Anno 203 and Palladius our first Bishop in Anno 431 seems most fully prov'd for these being Matters
Kingdoms and to show how they succeed to all who ever pretended to Monarchy in any of them As to the British part of the Isle Aurelius Ambrosius was by common consent chosen sole Prince of all the Britons And he had no other Succession save two Daughters Anna married to the King of the Picts and Ada married to the King of the Scots Mordredus King of the Picts Grand-child to the foresaid Aurelius finding himself debarr'd from the Succession of the British Crown employ'd the Scots who fought for him against the Britons But the Britons having called in the Saxons after a bloody Battel both Parties were forced to withdraw and the King of the Picts was induc'd to desist from his Pretentions at that time But thereafter Hungus King of the Picts and the direct Heir of the same Mordredus and consequently of Ambrosius King of the Britons gave his Sister Fergusiana to Achaius King of the Scots and in her Right Alpin King of Scotland succeeded both to the British and Pictish Crowns Hungus having died without any Children Kenneth the 2d Son to Alpin was forc'd to conquer the Picts who refus'd unjustly to receive him as their lawful King Our Kings are likewise Lineal Heirs of the Danish-Race who were Kings of England for 27 or as others say 29 Years they being the only Lineal Successors of Canutus King of the Danes in Britain for Margaret Wife to King Malcolm the 3d was Sister to Edgar which Edgar was Grand-child to St. Edward who was Brother to Hardiknut Son to Canutus After this the Kingdom of England return'd to the old Stock in King Edward's Time to whom succeeded Edgar whose Sister the pious Queen Margaret married King Malcolm the 3d of Scotland by whom he came to have right to the Crown of England there being none extant of the old Royal-Saxon-Line besides her self And with her came very many of the Nobility who fled from William the Conquerour after he conquer'd England and with whom King Malcolm would not make Peace till such of them as resolved to return were restored to their Estates The next Royal-Race which flourished in England was the Norman and to that Race our Kings succeeded thus The Line of William the Conqueror was branch'd out in the Houses of Lancaster and York To the House of Lancaster they succeed as Heirs by the marriage betwixt Ioan Daughter to the Duke of Somerset and undoubted Successor of the Family of Lancaster And to both Lancaster and York they succeed by being Heirs to Henry the 7th in whom these Successions were again happily reconcil'd he having married Elizabeth eldest Daughter to Edward the 4th who had transferred the Succession of the Crown from the House of Lancaster to that of York or at least had united the two in one For clearing whereof it is fit to know that Henry the 7th had only four Children Arthur Henry Margaret and Mary Arthur and Henry dying without Succession the Right of the Crown was certainly devolv'd upon the Children of Margaret the Daughter who did bear King Iames the 5th in a first Marriage with King Iames the 4th and Margaret Dowglas by a second Marriage with the Earl of Angus which Margaret being married to Matthew Earl of Lenox had two Sons the eldest whereof was Henry who thereafter married Queen Mary Daughter to King Iames the 5th and begot upon her King Iames the 6th and thus King Iames the 6th was upon all sides Heir to William the Conquerour and to Henry the 7th The Histories also of both Nations confess that our King is the undoubted Successor of the Blood-Royal of Wales for Walter Stuart from whom our Kings are descended was Grand-Child to the King of Wales by his Daughter who married Fleanchus Son to Banqhuo and Henry the 7th to whom King Iames the 6th was the true Successor was also the righteous Heir of Cadwallader the last Prince of Wales The Histories both of Scotland and Ireland do acknowledg that our Kings are undoubtedly descended from the Royal Race of the Kings of Ireland and all the debate that can be is only whether they be desended from King Ferquhard Father to King Fergus the first or from Eeric Father to King Fergus the second or from some other Irish Kings as Vsher pretends From all which I may draw two Conclusions First that God has from an extraordinary kindness to those Kingdoms lodged in the Person of our present Soveraign King Iames the 7th whom GOD Almighty long preseve all those opposite and different Rights by which our Peace might have been formerly disturb'd 2. That His Majesty who now Reigns has deriv'd from His Royal Ancestors a just and legal Right by Law to all those Crowns without needing to found upon the Right of Conquest so that the very endeavour to exclude him from all those Legal Rights by Arbitrary Insolence under a Mask of Law was the height of Injustice as well as Imprudence FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by RICHARD CHISWELL FOLIO SPeed's Maps and Geography of Great Britain and Ireland and of Foreign Parts Dr. Cave's Lives of the Primitive Fathers in 2 Vol. Dr. Cary's Chronological Account of Ancient Time Bp Wilkins real Character or Philosophical Language Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity Guillim's Display of Heraldry with large Additions Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation of the Church of England in 2 Vol. Account of the Confessions and Prayers of the Murderers of Esquire Thynn Burlace's History of the Irish Rebellion Herodoti Historia Gr. Lat. cum variis Lect. The Laws of this Realm concerning Jesuits Seminary Priests Recusants the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance explained by divers Judgments and Resolutions of the Iudges with other Observations thereupon By William Cawley Esq Sanford's Genealogical Hist. of the Kings of England Modern Reports of select Cases in the reign of King Charles the 2d Sir Tho. Murray's Collection of the Laws of Scotland Dr. Towerson's Explication on the Creed the Commandments and Lord's Prayer in 3 Vol. The History of the Island of CEYLON in the East-Indies Illustrated with Copper Figures and an exact Map of the Island By Capt. Robert Knox a Captive there near 20 Years QVARTO DR Littleton's Dictionary Latin and English Bp Nicholson on the Church-Catechism History of the late Wars of New-England Atwell's Faithful Surveyer Mr. Iohn Cave's seven occasional Sermons Dr. Crawford's Serious Expostulation with the Whigs in Scotland Dr. Parker's Demonstration of the Divine Authothority of the Law of Nature and the Christian Religion Mr. Hook's new Philosophical Collections Bibliotheca Norfolciana OCTAVO BIshop Wilkin's Natural Religion His Fifteen Sermons Mr. Tanner's Primordia Or the Rise and Growth of the first Church of God described Lord Hollis's Vindication of the Judicature of the House of Peers in the Case of Skinner Jurisdiction of the House of Peers in case of Appeals Jurisdiction of the House of Peers in case of Impositions Letters about the Bishops Votes in Capital Cases Spaniards Conspiracy against